Spices come from distant lands along ancient trade routes. These commodities bring flavor to food, health and beauty to consumers and...

Testing metals is a precise and varied process in the ancient world. It's a crucial skill in ensuring fair trade and preventing fraud....

Neolithic salt production in Europe centers around sites such as Solnitsata in today's Bulgaria, and Lunca (Poiana Slatinei), Romania....

Dnieper (Dnipro) River is one of most important waterways of ancient European trade and travel. Since the early Stone Age, from the sedge...

Solnitsata is the oldest known town in Europe, dating to the Chalcolithic Age in the 5th millennium BCE. A major center of the Neolithic...

The Aetsi are a north Germanic-Baltic group described by Roman Tacitus in 98 CE. With strong connections to the trade of coveted amber,...

The Aesti (Aestii, Astui, Aests) appear at a time when European cultures mingle, and trade routes connect north to south. Neither Germans...

Ugarit is an ancient coastal city-state of northern Syria. In the amiable climate of the East Mediterranean, Bronze Age Ugarit grows a...

Enkomi is among the most important settlements of middle Bronze Age Cyprus. Originally it's situated on the east coast as a prime...

Oxhide (ox hide, ox-hide) ingots are popular trade goods during the Bonze Age. An ingot is a piece of metal or other material such as...

The Uluburun shipwreck is among the amazing discoveries from the Bronze Age. Near Uluburun (Grand Cape) in Mediterranean Anatolia...

Salt is an essential mineral of life. In food it stimulates taste and is among the oldest preservation methods. Part of the human taste...

Cinnamon ( Cinnamomum ) is the oldest known spice in the world. The fragrant bark comes into popular use by c. 2000 BCE, when Egyptians...

Baltic amber is among the most prized trade items for millennia. The European amber trade starts in Sicily, with exports to other...